


A Typical Sunday Dinner

by Telaryn



Category: Leverage
Genre: Abuse, Backstory, Gen, Headcanon, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 04:17:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13138905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telaryn/pseuds/Telaryn
Summary: Nate tells his parents that he's leaving the seminary and won't be entering the priesthood.





	A Typical Sunday Dinner

**Author's Note:**

  * For [meils121](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meils121/gifts).



> My darling meils121 - you didn't seriously think we were going to leave you without a gift on Christmas Day, did you? Not after your incredible accomplishment - definitely the MVP of this year's Exchange!

“Out with it, Nathan. You’ve been like a nervous cat all morning and your da will be home any minute.”

It was the signal Nate had been waiting for from his mother, but he still waited until she put the shepherd’s pie she’d been making in the oven and refilled both their glasses. Tea – not his first choice, considering the conversation they were getting ready to have, but Katherine Ford would see her only son dead and buried before she poured him out a whisky. “I’ve left school.”

The grimace that twisted her still-handsome features told him better than any words that she’d already figured out this was what he’d been dreading telling them. Draining her glass in a single draught, she somehow managed to compose her expression by the time she set the glass down with a thump on the butcher-block table. “So – will you be following your father into the family business then? Continuing his proud tradition of doing other men’s bidding and serving other men’s time?”

He’d known she would be angry, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. “Mom, I can’t swear vows before a God that, um, that I don’t mean.” He’d almost confessed to his current lack of belief in the God of his childhood, but even if his mother suspected that was behind his decision, saying the words out loud meant that he would be out on the streets before dinner, instead of after.

Life with either of his parents these days was a matter of degrees. 

His mother chuckled bitterly. “You are an idealist my son, and no mistake. Please tell me you have a plan, that you’re not going to break this news to Jimmy without some idea of what you’re going to do instead.”

Nate exhaled softly. “I have a plan. First thing, I’m still going to finish school.”

She hadn’t expected that. “You know without the scholarship from St. Pat’s that there’s no money for that.”

“I know.” He’d done his research though, talking extensively to the counselors that were available. “Most of my credits will transfer to a state school, and my grades plus financial need should get me enough help to make it work.” He shrugged. “I should only lose about a year once it all shakes out.”

Her blue eyes narrowed. “No law school.”

That surprised a laugh out of him, even though he knew she was deadly serious. “I wouldn’t do that to you, Mom.”

He leaned in, and she allowed him to kiss her on the cheek, but when he straightened her expression was still doubtful. “Take yourself out of your father’s path Nathan, and I promise you I will find peace with whatever you choose to do. You know how I feel watching you two tear into each other.”

Nate did, but he was reaching a point where he understood that while she would say the words to him, she would never openly side with him against his father’s ongoing abuse. He’d never personally witnessed his father raise a hand to his mother, and she didn’t have the look of those in the neighborhood whose beatings were an open secret.

It made too much sense then, that his father’s targeting of his only son had in a strange way kept her safe all these years. And in his more charitable moments Nate liked to think he was reaching a point where he could accept that.

“So,” he went on, finishing his tea at last, “should I break the news before, during, or after supper?”

In the end, as so often happened with his father, all of Nate’s careful planning came to nothing. His attempts to distance himself from his father’s world as he grew older had left him without any appreciation for how quickly news traveled among the regulars at McRory’s Pub. Jimmy had already heard about Nate’s withdrawal from school from his roommate Paul’s father by the time he got home, and Nate walked right into the trap.

Only one glass was broken as his father ranted and swore and spat out the seemingly endless list of ways in which his only son had disappointed him, but this time Nate held his ground. And this time when Jimmy raised his closed fist and swung, Nate easily side-stepped the blow.

“No more, Pop.” The missed blow had staggered his father – Jimmy was breathing heavily as he clutched one of the dining room chairs for support. Their eyes met and Nate knew he’d never meant anything more deeply in his life. “No more.”

“Worthless son of a…”

And suddenly it was Nate who was stepping forward, _Nate_ who was raising his fist.

_“So – will you be following your father into the family business then? Continuing his proud tradition of doing other men’s bidding and serving other men’s time?”_

Jimmy’s anger had died in his throat at the threat Nate suddenly presented, but it was his mother’s words that stopped him. “No more,” he repeated. “I’m taking myself out of your path, Pop. I’m sorry you won’t be able to do better in this lifetime, but at least you can stop being embarrassed by me.”

His bags were already packed, and with a single apologetic look to his mother Nate Ford left the home of his childhood never to return.

He never did get dinner that night.


End file.
